Saturday, 16 December 2017

These three maps, by Markham 1880, Gould 1926, and Gibson 1937, show minor variations in the supposed line of retreat of Franklin's men along the Southern coast of King William Island then making a long crossing to the Adelaide Peninsula at the Todd Islands.

While none is impossible, the question should be asked is why didn't they cross near Tulloch Point, where Simpson Strait is at its narrowest, before heading East along the North coast of the peninsula?

In any event the maps showing the route touching the tip of Ogle Point are to be questioned as the only relics discovered there were "a small piece of cod-line, and a strip of striped cotton, about two inches long and an inch broad" which were found in an Inuit cache. There is no reason to suppose they were deposited anywhere in that vicinity by the retreating crews.

Twentieth century finds of relics and human remains on the Adelaide
Peninsula, plus Inuit testimony may suggest an alternative route.

Learmonth (1948):

"Mr. Learmonth and Mr. D. G. Sturrock discovered the remains
of three men at Tikeraniyou (1) together with a George IV Half Crown and a
large ivory sailor's button (Pootogo). The remains were taken to Goia Haven and
the relics forwarded to Hudson's Bay House, Winnipeg. The place is a point of
land shaped like a crooked finger, and is where the land bends round to the
southwest, between 12 and 15 miles west of Starvation Cove."

Rasmussen (1933):

"Along the rest of the north coast of Adelaide Peninsula are
the following named islands ... tikEranajuk (the little forefinger-like)..."

In 1926 Trader Peter Norburg reportedly found a skull with an oak sledge runner and fragments of Navy cloth and shoe leather at Thunder Cove. The skull was examined by archaeologist Henri-Marc Ami who wrote "I can come to no other conclusion but that is the skull of a man of modern European type, and presumably that of an Englishman."

Learmonth (1948):

Neniook, Eyaritituk's mother, about seventy years old, reported having come across the skeletons of seven white men still partly clothed in blue serge, and partly buried in the sand and seaweed on a small island in the vicinity of (2).

It seems reasonable that when Captain Crozier and the surviving officers of the Franklin expedition were planning their march to the mouth of Back's Fish River that they would have chosen the shortest route. The relics and remains suggest that at least some of the men, possibly the majority, took this path. That some of the party took a different track may be because they became lost in conditions of poor visibility or that they deliberately divided into groups to maximise the chance of finding sufficient game to sustain them by hunting. Using the 1839 cartography available to Franklin the best route to the Fish River seems obvious.

The viability of this route is underlined by its similarity to the track which Lt. Schwatka took on his return journey to Hudson's Bay in 1880.

Monday, 28 August 2017

The choice of the ‘HOPE ON HOPE EVER’ sledge flag as the signature image for the exhibition 'Death In The Ice: The Shocking Story Of Franklin’s Final Expedition', currently on at the National Maritime Museum, is a masterstroke in my opinion.

This flag, sewn by Jane Lady Franklin in 1852 for the final goverment searching expedition, neatly summarises the last desperate hopes of the families and loved ones of the 129 men who by that date had been missing for nearly seven years.

The use of embroidered banners inspired by medieval heraldry had an interesting origin and would have a remarkable future.

Sir Walter Scott, whose novel Ivanhoe, set in 12th-century England and first published in 1820 has been credited as the influence which "first turned men's minds in the direction of the Middle Ages".

An earlier work by Scott, the narrative poem 'The Lady of the Lake' includes the character James Fitz-James who provided the name for the First Officer of HMS Erebus.

At length his rank the stranger names,
The Knight of Snowdoun, James Fitz-James;
Lord of a barren heritage,

The illegitimate son of Sir James Gambier, Commander FitzJames was known by some in that family as "Our Lord of Snoudoun". The late William Battersby suggested that this was also a clue to the name of Fitzjames' Mother.

The sphere of romantic medievalism was greatly boosted in 1839 by the Eglinton Tournament which involved forty knights in armour plus their entourages and drew a crowd of 100,000. The spectacle was unfortunately marred by torrential rain.

Five weeks later Erebus and Terror, commanded by of James Clark Ross and Francis Crozier, set sail for the Antarctic regions.

The sledges of the various Franklin search expeditions usually carried flags with an ecclectic collection of inspiring phrases or family mottoes. They also served a practical purpose in that they enabled individual sledges to be identified at telescope distance.

Clement Markham, who, as a Naval Midshipman, had participated in the search for Franklin in the 1850's, elevated the art of sledge flags to a new height for the 1870 Nares Arctic expedition. Markham's banners were closely modelled on medieval standards, each carrying the family crest and colours of the officer who carried them. Decades later, as the driving force behind Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic expeditions, Markham would ensure that his medieval banners were carried to the South Pole.

It has been suggested that the nostalgic sentiments with which Markham imbued Scott's expeditions played a part in making that saga a tragedy rather than the intended triumph.

The spirit of Medievalism, a defining characteristic of the long Victorian age, remains strong to this day.

Friday, 21 July 2017

A few years ago I visited the vaults of the National Maritime Museum to do some research for a mini-project of mine, to make some replica Goldner cans.

Later, after piecing together photographs of the fragmentary surviving labels, I was surprised to discover that the labels include a picture of a can-opener to the left of the text and on the right an illustration of how the opener was intended to be used.

That the cans and labels date to 1845 is not in doubt, thus an article in a well known on-line encyclopedia which states that "dedicated can openers appeared in the 1850s" clearly needs to be updated.

The can opener depicted (referred to as a lever knife in contemporary sources) has a short stabbing blade at one end for puncturing the can, and at the other end a claw comprising a blade to continue the incision and a projection for a fulcrum.

The text on the can says "To open, stab a hole with the but–end of the knife insert the knife and cut it round."

Fortnum and Mason's 1849 catalogue also includes very similar instructions for opening preserved provisions canisters.

In 1851, when Goldner was still the Navy's main supplier of preserved meats, the Admiralty declared: "The canister is to be opened with the lever knife furnished for the purpose, and is to be cut completely round the body near the top."

Preserved meat manufacturer John Gillon of Leith claimed, in 1840, to be the inventor of the lever knife although the device described is slightly simpler with no mention of the short stabbing blade.

Vintage can openers similar to that depicted can sometimes be found for sale. I prided myself that the one I bought was a genuine 1840s relic and probably the oldest can-opener in the world until I discovered that the company which made it, F G Pearson & Co. of Sheffield, was only established in 1854.

The true "oldest can opener in the world" therefore remains on the list of treasures which are waiting to be plucked from the icy depths of Erebus and Terror.

It can be argued that last week's triumphant discovery of the wreck of HMS Terror can be linked to the lead in the bones recovered from King William Island in the 1980's. Had Owen Beattie not detected high levels of lead in those remains then the Beechey Island excavations wouldn't have happened and the worldwide publicity arising from the bestseller Frozen in Time would not have raised public and private support for the ultimately successful search for the ships.

The story of lead and the Franklin expedition has had so many twists and
turns that it is reminiscient of the search for the lost expedition itself. I'm sure that the story still has some distance to run and hope that my paper is received as a useful contribution.

Friday, 18 March 2016

The sides of the pedestal of Franklin's statue in Waterloo Place, London, list the names of the full complement of the expedition's lost, cast in bronze. To produce what I hope is a definitive list, I have combined the names from the plaques with my own transcriptions of the muster books of Erebus and Terror in the National Archives.

HMS EREBUS

OFFICERS

Name

Qualities

Age

Birthplace

List

No.

Sir J. Franklin Kt. K.C.H.

Captain

1

1

James Fitzjames

Commander

1

2

Graham Gore

Lieutenant

1

6

H.T.D. Le Vesconte

Lieutenant

1

3

J.W. Fairholme

Lieutenant

1

7

Robert O. Sergeant

Mate

1

9

Charles F. Des Vœux

Mate

1

4

Edward Couch

Mate

1

10

James Reid

Master (Acting)

1

8

Stephen S. Stanley

Surgeon

2

2

Charles H. Osmer

Paymaster & Purser

2

1

Harry D.S. Goodsir

Surgeon (Acting)

2

3

Henry F. Collins

Second Master

1

5

Thomas Terry

Boatswain, 3rd Class

4

1

John Weekes

Carpenter, 2nd Class

4

3

John Gregory

Engineer, 1st Class

4

4

PETTY OFFICERS

Samuel Brown

Boatswain's mate

27

Hull, Yorks.

5

4

Richard Wall

Ship's Cook

45

Hull, Yorks.

5

5

Robert Sinclair

Captain of the Foretop

25

Kirkwall, Orkney

5

6

Joseph Andrews

Captain of the Hold

35

Edmonton, Middx.

5

1

William Fowler

Paymaster & Purser's Steward

26

Bristol, Somerset

5

7

James W. Brown

Caulker

28

Deptford, Kent

5

9

John Cowie

Stoker

32

Bermondsey, Surrey

5

10

John Sullivan

Captain of the Maintop

24

Gillingham, Kent

5

15

Phillip Reddington

Captain of Forecastle

28

Brompton, Kent

5

16

John Murray

Sailmaker

43

Glasgow, Lanarks.

5

20

John Bridgens

Subordinate Officers' Steward

26

Woolwich, Kent

5

21

Thomas Watson

Carpenter's Mate

40

Gt. Yarmouth, Norfolk

5

22

Thomas Plater

Stoker

Westminster, Middx.

5

23

William Smith

Blacksmith

28

Thibnam [Tibenham], Norfolk

5

24

Francis Dunn

Caulker's Mate

25

Llanelly, S. Wales

5

25

Edmund Hoar

Captain's Steward

23

Portsea, Hants

5

28

Daniel Arthur

Quartermaster

35

Aberdeen

5

32

William Bell

Quartermaster

36

Dundee, Forfar

5

43

John Downing

2nd Quartermaster

34

Plymouth, Devon

5

52

James Hart

Leading Stoker

33

Hampstead, Middx

5

54

Richard Aylmore

Gunroom Steward

24

Southampton, Hants

5

55

James Rigden

Captain's Coxwain

32

Upper Deal, Kent

5

18

ABLE SEAMEN

George Thompson

AB

27

Staines, Berks

5

8

John Hartnell

AB

25

Brompton, Kent

5

11

John Stickland

AB

24

Portsmouth, Hants.

5

13

Thomas Hartnell

AB

23

Chatham, Kent

5

12

William Orren

AB

34

Chatham, Kent

5

17

William Clossan

AB

25

Shetland

5

19

Charles Coombs

AB

28

Greenwich, Kent

5

3

John Morfin

AB

25

Gainsboro., Lincolns.

5

29

Charles Best

AB

23

Fareham, Hants.

5

40

Thomas Mc. Convey

AB

24

Liverpool, Lancs.

5

41

Henry Lloyd

AB

26

Christiansen, Norway

5

42

Thomas Work

AB

41

Kirkwall, Orkney

5

44

Robert Ferrier

AB

29

Perth

5

45

Josephus Geater

AB

32

London, Middx.

5

46

George Williams

AB

35

Holyhead, Angelsea

5

47

Thomas Tadman

AB

28

Brompton, Kent

5

48

Abraham Seeley

AB

34

Gravesend, Kent

5

49

Francis Pocock

AB

24

Upnor, Kent

5

50

Robert Johns

AB

24

Penryn, Cornwall

5

51

William Mark

AB

24

Holyhead, Angelsea

5

52

ROYAL MARINES

Daniel Bryant

Sergeant

31.5

Shepton Montague, Somerset

7

1

Alexander Paterson*

Corporal

30

Inverness

9

1

Robert Hopcraft

Private

38.8

Nottingham, Notts.

8

1

William Pilkington

Private

28.4

Kilrush, Clare

9

2

William Braine

Private

31.3

Oakhill, Somerset

9

3

Joseph Healey

Private

29.10

Manchester, Lancs.

9

4

William Reed

Private

28.8

Bristol, Somerset

9

5

BOYS

George Chambers

Boy, 1st Class

18

Woolwich, Kent

6

1

David Young

Boy, 1st Class

18

Sheerness, Kent

6

2

HMS TERROR

OFFICERS

Name

Qualities

Age

Birthplace

List

No.

F.R.M. Crozier

Captain

1

1

Edward Little

Lieutenant

1

2

George H. Hodgson

Lieutenant

1

3

John Irving

Lieut

1

5

Frederick Hornby

Mate

1

3

Robert Thomas

Mate

1

4

Thomas Blanky

Master (Acting)

1

7

John S. Peddie

Surgeon (Acting)

2

1

Alexander Mc. Donald

Assistant Surgeon

2

2

G.A. MacBean

Second Master

1

6

E. J. H. Helpman

Clerk in Charge

3

1

Thomas Honey

Carpenter, 3rd Class

4

1

John Lane

Boatswain, 3rd Class

4

2

James Thompson

Engineer, 1st Class (Acting)

4

3

PETTY OFFICERS

John Diggle

Ship's Cook

36

Westminster, London

5

2

Henry Peglar

Captain of the Foretop

37

London, Middx.

5

3

William Gibson

Subordinate Officers' Steward

22

London, Middx.

5

12

Cornelius Hickey

Caulker's Mate

24

Limerick

5

13

William Goddard

Captain of the Hold

29

Gt. Yarmouth, Norfolk

5

15

Reuben Male

Captain of the Forecastle

27

Woolwich, Kent

5

17

Alexander Wilson

Carpenter's Mate

27

Holy Island, N. Durham

5

18

John Wilson

Captain's Coxwain

33

Portsea, Hants

5

20

Thomas Darlington

Caulker

29

Plymouth, Devon

5

21

William Johnson

Stoker

45

Kiston-Lindsey, Lincolns.

5

22

Thomas R. Farr

Captain of the Maintop

32

Deptford, Kent

5

23

Luke Smith

Stoker

27

London, Middx.

5

37

David Mc. Donald

Quartermaster

46

Peterhead, Scotland

5

40

John Kenley

Quartermaster

44

St. Monance, Fifeshire

5

53

William Rhodes

Quartermaster

31

Redingstreet, Kent

5

56

Thomas Johnson

Boatswain's Mate

28

Wisbeach, Cambridge

5

46

Thomas Armitage

Gunroom Steward

40

Chatham, Kent

5

49

Samuel Honey

Blacksmith

22

Plymouth, Devon

5

50

Thomas Jopson

Captain's Steward

27

Marylebone, Middx.

5

52

Edward Genge

Paymaster's Steward

21

Gosport, Hants.

5

55

John Torrington

Leading Stoker

19

Manchester

5

58

ABLE SEAMEN

George J. Cann

AB

23

Battersea, Middx.

5

1

William Strong

AB

22

Portsmouth, Hants.

5

4

David Sims

AB

24

Gedney, Lincoln.

5

5

John Bailey

AB

21

Leyton, Essex

5

6

William Jerry

AB

29

Pembroke, Wales

5

8

Henry Sait

AB

23

Bognor, Sussex

5

14

Alexander Berry

AB

32

S. Ferry, Fifeshire

5

16

John Handford

AB

28

Sunderland

5

24

John Bates*

AB

24

London, Middx.

5

25

Samuel Crispe

AB

24

Lynn, Norfolk

5

36

Charles Johnson

AB

28

Halifax, Nova Scotia

5

38

William Shanks

AB

29

Dundee, Scotland

5

39

David Leys

AB

37

Montrose, Scotland

5

41

William Sinclair

AB

30

Sallaway [Galloway], Scotland

5

42

George Kinnaird

AB

23

Hastings, Sussex

5

43

Ed. Lawrence

AB

30

London, Middx.

5

47

Magnus Manson

AB

28

Shetland, Scotland

5

48

James Walker

AB

29

S. Shields

5

54

William Wentzall

AB

33

London, Middx.

5

57

ROYAL MARINES

Solomon Tozer

Sergeant

34

Axbridge, Somerset

7

1

William Hedges

Corporal

30

Bradford, Wilts

9

1

William Heather

Private

35

Battersea, Surrey

8

1

Henry Wilkes

Private

28

Leicester

9

2

John Hammond

Private

32

Bradford, Yorks.

9

3

James Daly

Private

30

Luberclue [Tubberclare], Westmeath

9

4

BOYS

Robert Golding

Boy

19

Deptford, Kent

6

1

Thomas Evans

Boy

18

Deptford, Kent

6

3

The final two columns, "List" and "No.", refer to the individual lists within the muster books and the number of each man within them. The titles of the lists referred to above are shown in the following table.

1.

Commissioned Officers - Military Branch

2.

Commissioned Officers - Civil Branch

3.

Subordinate Officers

4.

Warrant Officers

5.

Ship's Company

6.

Boys, 1st Class

7.

Marines, Not Classed

8.

Marines, 1st Class

9.

Marines, 3rd Class

Andrew Lambert notes that "In February 1914 the Board of Works corrected the spelling of des Voeux's name from des Vauex, and changed le Vesconte's middle initial from F to T in 1931, at £2 a time. Then the Board checked the Admiralty record to ensure there were no more errors."

I have to take issue with the Board of Works in two cases, Alexander Paterson of HMS Erebus, and Able Seaman John Bates of HMS Terror, who gain a "t" and lose an "s", respectively, on the plaques.

Even the legendary Richard Cyriax was not immune to error. His transcription of the muster lists spells the surname of William Clossan as "Closson" and renames Sergeant Daniel Bryant as David.

In the light of the above, I can make no claims for perfection, but hope that this is an improvement on previous compilations.

Friday, 28 August 2015

The above map from 1850 now has Boothia correctly attached to the mainland, thanks to John Rae's 1847 survey of the western shore of Boothia Gulf, and it includes Peel Sound, discovered by James Ross in the spring of 1849. Bellot Strait had not yet been found so North Somerset is shown contiguous with Boothia. The West coast of Boothia, denoted by a dotted line, is a guess which would later prove to be remarkably accurate.

Both the main map and the lower strip now uses Dease and Simpson's longitude values for the coastline South of King William Island.

In the lower strip, King William Island is still connected to Boothia by a spindly isthmus - a guess which would later prove to be remarkably inaccurate. The imaginary Poctes Bay has now morphed into Poets Bay, which John Ross had surely intended, to balance Artists bay opposite.

In the main map the geography to the West of KWI is somewhat ambiguous with the supposed isthmus lacking a southern coastline so that the blue wash representing the sea is divided only by a single dashed line. This could be considered the first depiction of the track which would be sailed by Roald Amundsen in his epic transit of the Passage more than fifty years later.

This 1855 edition incorporates all the whole Northern archipelago discovered during the Franklin search and McClure's precarious but ultimately successful over-ice transit from West to East.

Cornwallis and Bathurst Islands are shown joined, a detail which wouldn't be corrected until the Victory Point record revealed that Erebus and Terror had passed between them en-route to Beechey Island.

Rae's 1854 survey of the West coast of Boothia has proven that King William Island is just that and Bellot Strait also confers island status on North Somerset.

The colouring, Red for the Hudson's Bay Company's discoveries and Blue for the Royal Navy's, is slightly inaccurate as the coast South of Cape Colville (charted by Rae) is wrongly coloured blue and the unsurveyed West side of King William Island should not be coloured at all.

On this map we can indisputably draw the course of Amundsen's epic voyage: West through Lancaster Sound and Barrow Strait; South through Peel Sound and the area labelled Victoria Strait (only the Southern portion of which currently bears that name); then East of King William Island through James Ross and Rae Straights, then all the way West along the coast of the North American continent to the Bering Strait.

Ironically if this had been the best map which Amundsen had had before he set off he may well have shared the fate of Franklin.

Arrowsmith's 1855 map gives no hint as to the existence of McClintock Channel. That strait between Prince of Wales Island and Victoria Island enables masses of heavy ice to drift South into Victoria Strait where it is trapped against the barrier formed by Royal Geographical Society Islands and the Crozier Peninsula on the West side of King William Island.

Without this information, and the knowledge, which McClintock learned from the inuit, that the was open water in Rae Strait during the short Arctic summer, Amundsen may reasonably have chosen the obvious path to the West of King William Island resulting in the Gjoa becoming beset in the same place Erebus and Terror.

In compiling this map Arrowsmith was faced with the problem of reconciling some severe contradictions between longitude data from Dease and Simpson's 1839 expedition with the corresponding figures from George Back's 1835 decent of the Great Fish River. For Montreal Island the difference was nearly a whole degree.

Arrowsmith cleverly solved this conundrum by using Dease and Simpson's geography combined with Back's latitude numbers for the main map (in which Montreal Island is shown to the East of Matty Island) while displaying Dease and Simpson's survey unadulterated in the lower panel (which has Montreal to the West of Matty). Later surveys by John Rae would confirm the veracity of Dease and Simpson's measurements.

Other features which later proved to be erroneous are the presumed open water between the mouth of Back's River and the Gulf of Boothia and the isthmus, indicated by dotted lines, connecting King William Island and Boothia Felix.

Franklin would, of course, have been driven to fill in as many of the blank spaces as possible, and to ink in or delete the dotted lines as appropriate. With the good state of preservation to be expected from the cold dark waters of Wilmot & Crampton Bay, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that such a corrected map may one day be revealed.

Followers

About Me

Peter Carney grew up in Birmingham before gaining a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Liverpool University. He has a lifelong interest in archaeology and his fascination with the 1845 Franklin expedition is at the centre of a wide ranging interest in the history and technology of the Victorian era. Peter lives in Sussex, near to the sea.